Give me advices to how to do kitchen

[hotzcatz]

When designing a kitchen, I'll usually start with where the groceries and supplies enter the house. It should be easy to get them into the house and into storage.

Then, you have to get the groceries out of the various storage areas and prepped for a meal. There needs to be a lot of flat surface next to the refrigerator and the sink. Usually the flow of food starts in the fridge, goes to the countertop, then the sink, then the cooking appliance, then to the table. This is all well and good, but a functional kitchen also tracks the dishes from the table thru cleaning, back to storage and then the garbage out.

Figure the largest meal you prepare every year and design the kitchen to function for that meal.

Folks also seem to forget broom closets these days. Storage for cleaning supplies is part of a kitchen.

[gentlearts]

I agree with everyone, so far.....Absolutely yes on the garbage disposal. Get a good quality one.

Make sure an island is not in the way of your work triangle...stove, sink, fridge. My kitchen has an island that causes me to walk around it to get to the sink, and it’s a pain. I suggest you get a pull out trash and recycle drawer, so you don’t need to take floor space with a waste basket.

I am an advocate of cupboards that go to the ceiling. Why not use all the available space?

[Bamaman1]

At my previous house, we had a long island in the middle of the kitchen.

And at the end of the island sat Harley, the family American Staffordshire Terrier. Every time I had to walk around that island, I had to climb over the dog because pit bulls are just a little stubborn--they don't move.

I ended up moving that island around 90 degrees and building another cabinet to make that half of the kitchen "L shaped." It was a much better use that restored my working triangle.

Then Harley stood in front of the stove--and I still had to walk around him.

[silibran]

Originally Posted by emm74

I'm not personally a fan of OTR microwaves, but certainly as a microwave, a counter version does not do anything better or different.

Venting may or may not be a different story, that depends on the specifics of the appliances.

I’ve had the combo vent/micro and I hated it. I think the design is surely passing out of favor. Most of these were ductless, and unless the cook is tall, using the micro is a pain. I think they were designed by non cooks to free up counter space in small kitchens. My combo thing dated from 1979. I never used it.

You can build your micro in, over the regular oven, you can build a shelf for it, you can keep it on a cart, you can build a place for it at the end of an island, or you can put it on your counter. Or you can buy a countertop combo convection/micro if space is tight.

In a perfect world, I think the micro is best placed near the oven and/or stove.